Heard the term “tennis elbow”? Did you know that there is a similar condition called “golfers elbow”?

It is so similar in fact that it is the same pathology as tennis elbow, however the pain sits on the inside/underside of your elbow opposed to the outside/top.

Why is it called golfers elbow? As we swing down to strike the ball, our wrist flexor muscles help to create club-head speed by adding extra whip before impact. These flexor muscles (which attach to the underside of our elbow) are working extremely hard to brace for impact as the club hits the ball (or turf!). This causes them to forcibly lengthen- an eccentric contraction.

Shout-out to all the golfers out there. Chances are like most who play this game, you’re probably more often than not frustrated after your round rather than ecstatic about the flawless golf you just played (hence the 19th hole.

What we hate to see is frustration after a game not because of the shots you left out there, but because of pain. Lower back, shoulders, elbow and/or neck pain can all contribute to a miserable round!

There are many reasons that we may experience pain during swing, but often there is a common culprit… a stiff thoracic spine (upper back). A golf swing is a combination of our knees, hips, spine, shoulders and wrist working together to create a coordinated torque (or rotation) to swing the club, and a big portion of this is through rotation of our thoracic spine.

Let’s use the chain of a swing as an analogy- every link on a swing chain has a portion of movement required of it to globally move the swing. Imagine that we shrink-wrap or stiffen a big portion of the middle of the chain. The swing chair will still move when pushed, but the movement will become a lot jerkier, and the links of chain directly above and below the shrink-wrap will end up contributing a lot more hinge than originally required.

Imagine the shrink-wrapped chain is our stiff thoracic spine, and the links above are our neck and shoulders- we still generally achieve a full swing, but what will the quality of movement be like? And where is the extra movement coming from?

Most likely the excessive movement will come from our shoulders, neck and potentially our lumbar spine (low-back). So, for pain experienced in any of these areas during a golf swing, it is imperative that we first look at thoracic spine mobility. It’s incredible the difference we can make with a few simple stretches and mobility drills!

If you are experiencing pain during your round of golf give us a call on 8544 8484 to book in for an assessment, maybe you’ll even find a few more metres on your drive!

In the meantime, have a look at these simple thoracic mobility exercises you can give a go at home…

The most commonly injured structures in the shoulder are the tendons, the ligaments followed by the bursa. What are these things and what do they do??

Tendon.

The tendons are what attach our muscles to our bones allowing movement. The shoulder is a highly mobile, flexible complicated joint. The tendons are loaded in extreme ranges of motion and due to the anatomy of the shoulder complex often run “through” boney tunnels and above/below other muscles. Imagine the tendon like a rope, imagine for whatever reason the boney complex changes shape (extreme ranges of motion, period of inactivity, loss of muscle mass…etc etc) the rope no longer “fits” through the tunnel without rubbing. Using the rope analogy, rubbing along a firm surface long enough will cause fraying… tearing.

Sounds very dramatic doesn’t it?

These injuries can occur over time, as a form of wear and tear or in response to a fall/awkward position.

We have identified that lack of free movement in the thoracic spine can cause pain and limitation. We know that to stretch we often need to use combined movements of rotation and flexion or side bend and extension. We know that improving thoracic mobility we reduce the risk of lumbar spine pain or shoulder injury. So, we need to know how to keep our thorax moving.

Pain and injury in the middle of your back (your thorax) is less common than pain in your neck (because of the significant mobility up here) or your lower back (because of the significant load this area supports). But when pain does occur, it can be extremely uncomfortable. Why?

Here is a joint from the middle of your thoracic spine, we are looking down on it. It has attachments to the joint above and below, but also to ribs on either side. Along the front of the vertebrae a bundle of blood vessels runs, inside your chest cavity. At each level a vein an artery and a nerve split from the main vessel to innervate or supply blood to the muscles between your ribs.